Introduction: Magic Water
Step 1: Gathering Materials
> 4 small containers or buckets
> 8 10-foot pvc pipes
> 1 20-foot bundle of clear tubing (1/4” thick)
> 4 pvc couplings
> 2 pvc elbows connectors
> 6 pvc triple way elbow connectors
> 3 strobe lights
> 3-5 gallons of water
> roll of black butcher paper
> duct tape
> 1 dripping valve
> 1 table
> food coloring (any color works)
> 4 black-out curtains
Step 2: Cutting PVC Pipes
Cut all eight PVC pipes with a hand saw or electrical saw down to 200cm. With the remaining material of each 10-foot PVC pipe connect them together with your four PVC connectors to make four 200cm pieces. Take four of the eight PVC pipes at 200cm and cut them down to 130cm for the width of your black-out room.
Step 3: Building Your Black-out Room
Connect all your PVC pipes to create a cube for your black-out room. Don't connect one of the bottoms with a PVC pipe, this will be your entrance and you do not want people to trip on the pipe while walking in. Make sure the length and height are the same size and the width is smaller than the two. (Length=200cm, Height=200cm, Width=130cm).
Step 4: Covering Your Black-out Room
With your black butcher paper cover your black-out room (PVC pipe cube), cover the top and 3 of the 4 sides (make sure that the sides are covered and taped well enough that no light gets through). The side that you do not cover with black paper is going to be your entrance. Hang black-out curtains on your entrance to where the whole side is covered and no light is getting through.
Step 5: Preparing Your Tubing System
Cut three pieces of tubing the length of 1 meter. Tape one end of each tube to the inside of each of the three 5-gallon bucket just above the bottom. Place all three of the buckets on a shelf or a table that is higher than your black-out room so that the water flows easily. Drape each of the tubing over the top and down the inside of the black-out room and tape to the side of the butcher paper to keep the tubing in place. (you may need to cut the tubing shorter than 1 meter depending on the desired length that you want).
Step 6: Preparing Your Water
Fill all three 5-gallon buckets with water to about 5-inches away from the top. In each bucket put a different color of food coloring or dye (make sure to add enough dye that the water is a nice vibrant color). Connect your dripping valves to each end of the tubing.
Step 7: Setting Up the Inside of Your Black-out Room
Place a table or desk at the end of the black-out room where your tubing is taped to the wall (make sure the table is about 12-inches away from the wall). Between the wall and the table place your three smaller buckets/containers on the ground one bucket underneath each tube, so that they can collect the water that drips and your able to cycle your water. Place your three strobe lights on the table one strobe light pointing at each stream of water.
Step 8: Final Touches
Get your water flowing by either sucking on the end of the tube or using a vacuum. Once the water is flowing you can adjust the valve on the end to whatever desirable consistency that you like. Once the buckets on the ground fill up you need to dump the water collected in the 5-gallon buckets on the top shelf. Once the water is flowing the way you like adjust the frequency of the lights till you get the effect you want. (or in our case we didn't set our strobe lights because we wanted people to interact with the ilghts and see the different effects each frequency has).